Maritime History

For decades, a carved wooden eagle was the centerpiece of the extensive maritime collection on display at the Maryland Historical Society's Mount Vernon campus. It came from the stern of the Hornet, a Revolutionary War-era frigate led by a Baltimore native, Commodore Joshua Barney. Starting next month, the eagle and other nautical artifacts will sail to a new museum designed to tell the story of Baltimore's maritime heritage, right where it all began. The Fells Point Maritime Museum will open June 21 inside a former trolley barn at 1724 Thames St. in Fells Point.

The experiment of staging a Grand Prix in the heart of Baltimore has benefited the city. Whether you loved or hated it, it has caused us to consider the branding and selling of the city of Baltimore — who we are and why people want to visit, work and live here. The Grand Prix was dubbed a "signature event," the kind of occasion that put a spotlight on the city and brought thousands here. Now that it's gone, we should be thinking about how to replace it with something else that enhances our image and visibility.

From Fort McHenry to the old Shot Tower, Baltimore abounds with monuments and historic buildings. And though these sites are definitive reminders of the city's past, there are other spots where history comes alive, said Preservation Society Executive Director Ellen von Karajan. The trendy neighborhood of Fells Point, she noted, still echoes the tales of yesteryear. "Most people just don't realize ... what a very richly historic place Fells Point really is," she said. "There is so much here that just isn't known, even by Baltimoreans."

On a stormy April evening seven years ago, an unexpected email inextricably linked me to a cornerstone of Baltimore's past. The message was this: "Can you do Lexington Market?" And it came from Arcadia Publishing, a firm specializing in pictorial local histories. I read it in a last-minute email check before leaving with my husband for the Maryland Historical Society, which was awarding him its prestigious Brewington Prize for his article on Maryland maritime history. Between the rain, the snarled, rush-hour traffic, and the fact that the evening's focus was on my husband, I corked up Arcadia's message until, arriving at the society, I blurted "I've been asked to write a book about Lexington Market!"

As part of the South County Sundays program, visitors explored maritime history at the Captain Salem Avery House in Shadyside on Sunday. Above right, Michael Giroux of Annapolis and son Emory, 5, look at the Annapolis Maritime Museum's draketail boat Peg Wallace. Right, Sara Ladd, 3, hides behind the skirt of her mother, Georgia Ladd. Below, Georgia Ladd leads a tour of the historic house. Bottom right, twins Sarah (left) and Suzanne Fox, 3, of Annapolis work on a craft. For information about the South County Sundays program: www.four riversheritage.

THE DISCOVERY of a surprisingly intact Colonial-era shipyard under the lawns and gardens of West River homes near Galesville is a harbinger of things to come. The more archaeologists have begun working on Anne Arundel County's early settler past, the more they are unearthing.And why wouldn't they? Maryland's Chesapeake Bay coastline has a rich maritime history. Thriving settler ports and communities existed there. So did pirate hideaways. (The legendary pirate Hogarth reputedly hid a treasure on the grounds of "Holly Hill," the vast 17th century estate near the Anne Arundel-Calvert County line.

Walking through the new Fells Point Maritime Museum yesterday, Bob Taylor had a flashback of the Baltimore harbor as it was when he was a young man - loaded with docked ships, longshoremen and imported goods for sale. "Boats would be tied up along where Power Plant is now," said Taylor, 79, who has lived in Columbia for longer than the suburb has had its name. "On Pratt Street, you could buy watermelon and fruit right off the boat from longshoremen." Taylor and his wife, Peggy, drove into Baltimore yesterday for the inaugural weekend of the museum to glimpse a core piece of Baltimore's history in the hundreds of model ships, shipbuilders' tools, weapons and maps on display.

THE LIGHTHOUSES ALONG NEW JERSEY'S shore are so much more than photographs on souvenir postcards, subjects for paintings and models for light-catchers in kitchen windows. Although often overshadowed at vacation time by beaches, sun and seashells, they have stories to tell to all who are willing to listen. Just as surely as waves roll in and rake sand and shells into their swirling grasp for an instant, exploring the state's lighthouses is like breezing into history at full sail. "The lighthouses represent the maritime history of the nation, when wooden ships were sailed by iron men," says Brett Franks, spokesman for the 1,000-member New Jersey Lighthouse Society.

Imagine standing on a wharf at Lombard Street overlooking the harbor. That's just what folks did in the early 18th century, when Baltimore's port stretched a few blocks north of where it is now -- all the way to Water Street.You'll be able to retrace the harbor's former edges and discover the city's rich maritime history during walking tours and a variety of other activities offered this weekend as part of Portfest, an annual harbor celebration."Today Pratt Street is the harbor's edge and few people realize that the street's high risers are actually the curtain behind which is a stage to Baltimore 200 years ago," says Jamie Hunt, organizer and leader of the Portfest walking tours.

A project to transform a 130-year-old coffee warehouse into the nation's first museum honoring black shipbuilders and sailors is in jeopardy because the relic of Baltimore's sailing era might soon collapse.A nonprofit organization hoping to create the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park near Fells Point is trying to raise $600,000 to reinforce the waterfront building's teetering walls before winter storms knock them down."It's an emergency situation," said James Piper Bond, president of the Living Classrooms Foundation, which owns the property.

Jim Rouse's "festival market place" concept for the Inner Harbor, with retail pavilions and entertainment venues, brought with it the retail industry's pattern of re-branding and call for entertaining with ever new "attractions. " This put the harbor into competition not only with malls but also with amusement parks and beach venues — essentially defining it as a place of entertainment and amusement. Maybe it is time to challenge this paradigm. Should really great locations have to reinvent themselves constantly?

Children from Roye-Williams Elementary near Aberdeen had boned up on state history, wrapped up a week of standardized tests and arrived ready yesterday to assess their seamanship during a one-hour tour of Maryland's famous tall ship. With the waters of the Susquehanna River glistening in the background and a stiff breeze blowing through the rigging, the crew introduced the children to the Pride of Baltimore II, which had docked in the harbor at Havre de Grace for a four-day visit. As it makes its way to various ports along the Chesapeake Bay and beyond, this symbol of maritime heritage offers children hands-on learning aboard a Baltimore clipper, which was the fastest ship of its era, said Linda Christenson, executive director.

The history of recreational sailing and yacht racing is an important part of the maritime history of Annapolis. However, it should be told in the context of the broader role of vessels under sail. It was sailing ships that brought the European settlers to a new life of hope and opportunity. It was ships that brought Africans to a life of slavery. It was sailing ships that enabled Marylanders to prosper in trade with other colonies and with England during the Colonial era and in trade with other states of the union and countries around the world after achieving independence as the United States.

THE LIGHTHOUSES ALONG NEW JERSEY'S shore are so much more than photographs on souvenir postcards, subjects for paintings and models for light-catchers in kitchen windows. Although often overshadowed at vacation time by beaches, sun and seashells, they have stories to tell to all who are willing to listen. Just as surely as waves roll in and rake sand and shells into their swirling grasp for an instant, exploring the state's lighthouses is like breezing into history at full sail. "The lighthouses represent the maritime history of the nation, when wooden ships were sailed by iron men," says Brett Franks, spokesman for the 1,000-member New Jersey Lighthouse Society.

From Fort McHenry to the old Shot Tower, Baltimore abounds with monuments and historic buildings. And though these sites are definitive reminders of the city's past, there are other spots where history comes alive, said Preservation Society Executive Director Ellen von Karajan. The trendy neighborhood of Fells Point, she noted, still echoes the tales of yesteryear. "Most people just don't realize ... what a very richly historic place Fells Point really is," she said. "There is so much here that just isn't known, even by Baltimoreans."

The history of recreational sailing and yacht racing is an important part of the maritime history of Annapolis. However, it should be told in the context of the broader role of vessels under sail. It was sailing ships that brought the European settlers to a new life of hope and opportunity. It was ships that brought Africans to a life of slavery. It was sailing ships that enabled Marylanders to prosper in trade with other colonies and with England during the Colonial era and in trade with other states of the union and countries around the world after achieving independence as the United States.

The USS Torsk World War II submarine and two other historic ships that had been threatened with closing will be operated for at least three years by a nonprofit foundation that runs educational programs on land and at sea.City officials said yesterday that the three vessels moored at the Inner Harbor -- known collectively as the Baltimore Maritime Museum -- would be operated by the Living Classrooms Foundation, which hopes to make them key elements of...